It's time for me to dust off the doldrums left over from the Mavs collapse
in the playoffs and talk some basketball again.
The NBA draft was held on Thursday. Donnie Nelson came out and addressed
the media before the draft began. He said that the Mavs were in some
talks with some teams about moving up in the draft, but it would be
contingent on who was still there and he thought that in the end the
Mavs would just keep the picks they had and go with the best player
available (rather than addressing any needs). In answering a few
non-draft questions, Nelson reiterated the team's fondness for Devin
Harris as the Mavs point guard, briefly mentioned that they still like
the potential of JJ Barea, and was happy with the addition of Paul
Westphal (see below) as an assistant coach - "Couldn't be more excited" -
and that Westphal was the person who hired him in Phoenix.
The first round came and went with lots of yawns (I think the most
exciting thing was Joakim Noah's outfit). The Mavs didn't make any major
trades and stayed in the 2nd round. They drafted Nick Fazekas at #34
and Renaldas Seibutis at #50. The #60 pick (Milovan Rakovic) was traded
with cash to Orlando for the rights to #44 Reshawn Terry. Fazekas is a
6-11 forward from Nevada and averaged a double-double (20.4 pts, 11.1
reb) his senior season. His game is described as similar to Keith Van
Horn's and is a good shooter who can pass and rebound. The Mavs are
hoping he can be a backup for Dirk Nowitzki, but they'll also probably
bring in a veteran for that role. Seibutis is a 6-5 guard from Lithuania
who played the last 2 seasons in Greece. Nelson is familiar with him as
Nelson has strong ties with the Lithuania basketball world had Seibutis
is a Global Games alumnus. The Mavs do plan on stashing him in Europe
for a year or 2, but hope to have him on this year's summer league team.
Terry is a 6-8 forward from UNC. He'll have to perform well in the summer
league to have a shot of sticking around. If any of the 3 become
productive NBA players, the Mavs have to be happy - finding a good player
in the 2nd round is a pure crap shoot.
Avery Johnson came out and talked to the media after the Fazekas pick (so
nothing on the other 2). He said that the Mavs were excited to have him
and repeated several times about Fazekas' ability to pass and shoot. He
said that Fazekas had a good workout with the Mavs and was a player that
they had their eye on. Fazekas can pick-and-pop and play inside some
and the Mavs will be looking at him as a backup to Nowitzki and maybe play
them some on the floor together.
Donnie Nelson came out after the draft was over and talked about the
picks. He said that Fazekas was the player they wanted all along and were
even trying to move up to get him - they were shocked that he slid. He is
one of the best shooters in the draft, if not the best shooter. Nelson
was impressed by his workout and felt real good about him. Nelson said
that the Mavs went with the best player available with their picks, but
that the fact that both Fazekas and Terry played in college for 4 years
was a factor. Nelson described Terry as one of the best athletes in the
draft, if not the best. He said that he came from a great program, is
really long, and can shoot the deep ball.
The Mavs had Fazekas on the phone for the print media (and those of us who
saw what was going on and came over to listen). He said he had a lot of
confidence and can bring his offense and looks forward to playing with
Nowitzki. He was happy that Dallas took him and said he wasn't
disappointed with being drafted later in the draft, but that it was a long
ways to wait. He had applied to the draft in 2006, but withdrew before
the draft and returned to school and felt that he was more NBA ready now
than he was then.
Nick Fazekas
Nevada stats
Year GP-GS MIN AVG FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT
03-04 34-22 915 26.9 162-307 0.528 24-67 0.358 81-105 0.771
04-05 32-32 1009 31.5 223-444 0.502 33-101 0.327 183-232 0.789
05-06 33-33 1051 31.8 268-507 0.529 31-107 0.290 154-182 0.846
06-67 32-32 969 30.3 248-437 0.568 28-65 0.431 128-151 0.848
Total 131-119 3944 30.1 901-1695 0.532 116-340 0.341 546-670 0.815
| Rebounds |
Year OFF DEF TOT AVG AST AVG PF-D STL TO BLK PTS AVG HI
03-04 74 183 257 7.6 16 0.5 70-0 18 32 44 429 12.6 32
04-05 61 240 301 9.4 30 0.9 56-1 20 70 51 662 20.7 33
05-06 100 242 342 10.4 68 2.1 59-0 36 59 49 721 21.8 37
06-67 95 259 354 11.1 56 1.8 74-2 24 64 48 652 20.4 33
Total 330 924 1254 9.6 170 1.3 259-3 98 225 192 2464 18.8 37
Reshawn Terry
North Carolina Stats
Year GP-GS MIN AVG FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT
03-04 25-0 106 4.2 13-30 0.433 1-5 0.200 13-24 0.542
04-05 32-0 143 4.5 26-48 0.542 12-20 0.600 9-13 0.692
05-06 31-30 750 24.2 145-306 0.474 45-118 0.381 108-135 0.800
06-07 38-36 817 21.5 130-263 0.494 45-103 0.437 65-88 0.739
Total 126-66 1816 14.4 314-647 0.485 103-246 0.419 195-260 0.750
| Rebounds |
Year OFF DEF TOT AVG AST AVG PF-D STL TO BLK PTS AVG HI
03-04 10 11 21 0.8 4 0.2 19-0 10 16 3 40 1.6 14
04-05 8 14 22 0.7 7 0.2 17-0 9 15 7 73 2.3 11
05-06 60 132 192 6.2 42 1.4 93-3 30 82 27 443 14.3 25
06-07 47 157 204 5.4 63 1.7 85-2 27 69 24 370 9.7 23
Total 125 314 439 3.5 116 0.9 214-5 76 182 61 926 7.3 25
Renaldas Seibutis
Sakalai Vilnius - Lithuanian LKL
Year GP FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT
03-04 47 131-251 0.522 22-59 0.373 75-96 0.781
04-05 32 204-380 0.537 23-80 0.288 152-175 0.869
Total 79 335-631 0.531 45-139 0.324 227-271 0.838
Year REB AVG AST AVG STL BLK PTS AVG
03-04 99 2.1 42 0.9 48 10 359 7.6
04-05 122 3.8 66 2.1 43 12 583 18.2
Total 221 2.8 108 1.4 91 22 942 11.9
Olympiakos/Maroussi - Greek A-1 League
Year GP FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT
05-06 26 69-132 0.523 22-45 0.489 55-76 0.723
06-07 26 118-223 0.529 50-106 0.472 64-85 0.753
Total 52 187-355 0.527 72-151 0.477 119-161 0.739
Year REB AVG AST AVG STL BLK PTS AVG
05-06 62 2.4 29 1.1 15 3 215 8.3
06-07 51 2.0 39 1.5 21 4 350 13.5
Total 113 2.2 68 1.3 36 7 565 10.9
Olympiakos - Euroleague
Year GP FGM-FGA PCT 3PM-3PA PCT FTM-FTA PCT
06-07 23 44-100 0.440 10-33 0.303 46-56 0.821
Year REB AVG AST AVG STL BLK PTS AVG
06-07 44 1.9 14 0.6 14 1 144 6.3
In non-draft news, Devean George elected to opt-out of his contract and
is a free agent. He will listen to the Mavs' offer and may return to the
team, but he will also listen to what other teams are willing to offer.
He joins Jerry Stackhouse and Austin Croshere as Mavs free agents. The
Mavs will try to re-sign Stackhouse, but Croshere is likely gone (but
could be used in a trade as a sign-and-trade). Teams can start
negotiating with free agents on Sunday, but can not actually sign them or
make any trades until the end of the July Moratorium ends (July 11)
[though rookies can be signed during that time].
The Mavs named Paul Westphal as an assistant coach. He joins Joe Prunty
as the current bench assistants. The Mavs will likely hire another
assistant (or promote Popeye Jones to a bench assistant) in the next
couple of months. Assistant Sam Vincent was named as head coach for
the Charlotte Bobcats on May 25. Assistant Del Harris announced that he
would not be an assistant for this coming season (he's been on one-year
contracts his entire time with Dallas, I believe) and the Mavs turned
around and offered him the position of a consultant, which he accepted.
He youngest son is a senior in high school and Harris wanted to be
around for him this year.
The Mavs are gearing up for their summer league. Undrafted rookies Caleb
Green and Warren Carter have been added to the summer league roster. The
Mavs 3 drafted rookies are expected to play in the league, as well as
Maurice Ager, JJ Barea, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, and DeSagana Diop. I don't
have the complete roster yet, but will add it to my Mavs web page when I
get it, as well as having the boxscores from the games on my page. It
looks like there is only 1 official NBA summer league this year, and that
is taking place in Las Vegas from July 6 through 15. All but 1 of the
Mavs games is scheduled to be broadcast on NBATV [and thanks _so_ much
to Steve Herbst of NBATV for helping me get my NBATV back after DirecTV
incorrectly pulled it last week (and DirecTV wouldn't listen to my
pleads)].
Mavs Summer league schedule (I believe all times are Mountain Time)
Friday July 6 Dallas vs Seattle at 3 pm NBATV
Sunday July 8 Dallas vs Portland at 1 pm
Tuesday July 10 Dallas vs Denver at 3 pm NBATV
Thursday July 12 Dallas vs Houston at 3 pm NBATV
Saturday July 14 Dallas vs Boston at 1 pm NBATV
In addition, the Mavs will be playing an exhibition game against the
Chinese National Team (expected to including Yao Ming and draftees Yi
Jianlian and Sun Yue) at Moody Coliseum (SMU) at 7 pm on Tuesday July 3.
Tickets cost $5 at the Moody boxoffice. The Chinese National Team is also
scheduled to play in the Las Vegas summer league. Donnie Nelson's annual
Global Games, featuring youngsters from around the world, is Thursday
through Saturday at Moody with 4 games each day starting at 2 pm ($5 per
day or $15 for the event). The Chinese team will also play an exhibition
game tomorrow (Sunday) at 5 pm vs the USA Mens Under 19 team.
Mark Cuban underwent surgery yesterday to replace his left hip. All
reportedly went well. [Good luck with your recovery, Mark!]
Erick Dampier underwent surgery on his right shoulder on June 15 to repair
a small tear in his rotator cuff. He is expected to be fully recovered
by the start of training camp.
And even older stuff (I really didn't have the heart to write anything
Mavs since that last Golden State loss):
Dallas picked up their 07-08 option for DeSagana Diop on May 11.
Dirk Nowitzki was named to the All-NBA First Team on May 10. He had a
total of 634 points, including 125 1st team votes from the voting done by
129 media members - he had the 3rd most total points in the voting and the
most amongst the forwards (the voting, based on position, is done at the
end of the regular season).
And the big news: Dirk Nowitzki was named as MVP for 2006-07 on May 15!
Dirk received 1138 points including 83 1st place votes from the 129 media
members. Steve Nash (Pho) finished 2nd with 1013 points including 44 1st
place votes. Everyone was excited for Dirk, but he had trouble enjoying
the moment as he was still feeling the sting of the playoff disappointment
[I did catch the full MVP presentation on NBATV - I teared up watching it,
feeling happy for him for winning the award and sad that it wasn't the
great moment for him that it should have been].
patricia